Character Roulette
by Sazfordayz
Summary: In which there is a chapter for various pairing of the Yuuboys and Bracelet gals. I'm not using the dub names.
1. Yuri&Serena- Of Summer Flings

**AN: Okay let's kick this off with our basic dimension counterparts. So Yuri? Serena? You're up. (The majority of this is slightly AU, as I wanted Academia to be more like the Duel academy as in YGO GX. Also I wanted the Yuu-boys and bracelet gals to be a little older.)**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own YGO Arc-v. Not even a little bit *sad face* *tear***

Of Summer Flings- Yuri & Serena (Predatorshipping)

Fusion dimension,

For, perhaps the the seventh time that morning, Serena stopped completely in her tracks. The corridor fell silent, as the echo of her boots on the tiled floors faded. Subtly, she glanced back over her shoulder and saw... Nothing. Absolutely nothing and no one in sight.

That in itself wasn't particularly unusual; the corridors of Academia were empty as the Summer months had come around. Most students had left for summer vacation, understanding that in the year to follow, there wouldn't be any holiday time. The Professor's plans to unite the dimensions were in place, after all, and the battle for unity would come with the fresh school year. As summer rolled in, Serena was one of the few students left to roam Academia's grounds; and of those students, all besides her were busy with internships and summer jobs... So why did she get the feeling that someone was following her.

Whilst the professor kept a very close eye on Serena during term time, forcing her to be accompanied by bodyguards or supervisors; in the holidays she was tagged with only a tracking device, allowing her to roam as she pleased. She smiled slightly at the feel of the cold anklet underneath her boot, which was giving her some time to herself... Or rather, supposedly giving her some time to herself... Honestly, why did he bother tracking her movements so closely? There was plenty for a 16 year-old to get up to in the state-of-the-arc facilities but it wasn't like she was planning to cause trouble- So far she had spent the majority of her holiday lounging on the beach, attempting to get a tan!

"...Ugh. I don't have time for this." She muttered under her breath and continued on her way, undeterred by her suspicions. It wasn't like she was a small child who couldn't defend herself. If someone _was_ following her around, they'd have to face her and her deck sooner or later. It may even work out in her favour- she could test her new and improved deck out on them, hopefully humiliating them into submission. After all, she _had_ spent the last couple of days fine-tuning her Moonlight deck; adding the new cards she'd collected and discarding unnecessary ones, to the point where her deck was made up of exactly forty cards. It was the best one she'd ever built, even if she had done so whilst in her bikini, soaking up the sun. It was so good she reckoned she could give Barrett a run for his money. In the same afternoon, she'd also managed to reorganise and reorder all her spare cards into spells, traps, normal monsters, fusion monsters and effect monsters. Then she'd further organised those into alphabetical order… All 1545 of the cards she owned… Truth be told, she was incredibly bored.

The fact that she (pretty much) hadn't put her deck down since the summer started made her wince. It wasn't like she didn't have her reasons- following the announcement of the professor's noble goal to unite the dimensions, all anyone had spoken about was the arc-area project. Serena wanted to be up on the front lines; hence, the improved deck. Equally, just because school was out, it didn't mean her skills as a duellist would suddenly crash, burn and disappear. She should spend more time doing things for herself- having a some fun! Living a little! Serena was one of the best duellists Academia had to offer, full stop. The professor would be a fool if he didn't put her in the first wave of enforcers, at the very least.

To attest to that, she had just won two consecutive duel simulations with said deck, before deciding it was time for lunch. That was even without her favourite card 'Moonlight Cat Dancer.' She must have left it in the Slifer dorms this morning. That was where she was going at the moment. The main school kitchens only served dinner in the holidays but Serena was free to use the Slifer-red kitchens as she pleased for other meals in the day. One of the kitchen staff, Ms Dorothy, was sweet on her and had promised to leave out some fresh pastries for lunch. After spending the morning duelling and strategizing, the thought of those pastries was getting more and more appealing. She could practically taste the crispy layers of buttery goodness. Maybe there would be some strawberries in the fridge she could have with them. Or perhaps some of that raspberry jam she'd been eyeing up for the past week. Whilst walking from the main building to the dorms on autopilot alone, Serena was so busy imagining her lunch choices that she nearly walked straight into a tree. The only thing that saved her from an unsightly bruise in the middle of her forehead was a rather graceful last minute dodge, managed only through her years of intensive gymnastics. ' _Stop thinking about the bloody pastries and focus on getting to them!'_ In this scenario, perhaps the voice in her head was right.

By the time she arrived, Serena wasn't surprised to find the kitchens empty. However, she _was_ surprised to find that the promised plate of pastries was nowhere in sight. She checked the kitchen counter tops, the fridge and the dining hall next door before finally accepting defeat. It wasn't like Ms Dorothy to break a promise! Serena gave a small sigh and went back to the fridge to grab that jar of raspberry jam. She'd have something proper to eat later in the evening. Grabbing one of the many bread knives, she resigned herself to a jam sandwich.

It wasn't before long that Serena got that prickly feeling on the back of her neck again. She was certain someone was watching her. In that moment, it suddenly occurred to her that if the professor was tracking her with the anklet, it was unlikely he would send someone else to follow her around as well. Especially not when they were so close to the interdimensional conflict and when all hands were busy preparing the interdimensional transportation and duel disk technology. So who else would be following her around? And more to the point, why?

Feeling discomforted by the thought, Serena whipped around to see if indeed there was someone else in the room; but only managed to knock the jam off the countertop by mistake. She swore loudly and internally cursed her overactive imagination. Luckily the glass jar hadn't smashed and she'd already finished spreading her sandwich- but the bright red jam had splattered a good distance across the floor. What a waste. She hung her head in shame. She really was not having a good day. Gingerly picking up the sticky jar, she tossed it in the glass recycling and set about clearing up the mess. No sense leaving it to Ms Dorothy or another one of the staff to do later.

...

Just as she'd finished cleaning, she found a small yellow note sticking out from under a countertop. She was surprised to find that it was addressed to her:

' _Hi Serena! Here are those pastries I promised, I ran out of the strawberry jam ones you like but I hope you like these anyway! -Ms Dorothy.'_

Serena scowled, contemplating the fate of her pastries. If Ms Dorothy had indeed left the pastries out, along with the note in her hand, then who could possibly have had the audacity to eat someone else's pastries?

-The day before-

Yuri had just realised that he would be having an extremely boring summer. He'd found and recorded the details of his targets in both the XYZ dimension and the Synchro dimension, two months too early. Now he was just waiting on the professor's orders to capture both of the girls; and it seemed that the professor wasn't making any important moves till September, when the first wave of enforcers would be ready to go. Yuri would have to find some patience. Find another way to occupy his time… Brilliant.

He flopped back onto his double bed and stared up at the ceiling. Since his room was on the very top floor of the Slifer dorm, the heat that rose through the building tended to accumulate and his room was disgustingly hot. Perfect for winter, less so for summer. Yuri supposed that it was still an improvement on the original Slifer rooms- he'd found the blueprints a few months ago, whilst exploring Academia's confidential records out of curiosity. About 30 years ago, when Academia's student intake had doubled, the old, brown, crumbling building, which had served as the Slifer red dorms, had been knocked down and an impressive tower-like structure had been put in it's place; more befitting the divinity of the crimson egyptian god and with a larger student capacity. As a result, Yuri had the best view of the whole island and the Slifer dorms were far superior to the rest. The same could be said for it's occupants. Yuri smirked at that thought. These days the dorm you were placed in was based on your type of duel strategy. With a reputation for ruthless offensive strategies, Slifer red was definitely not somewhere to be trifled with.

Although, in his current state, an obelisk blue might even give him a rough time, perish the thought. He groaned at the feeling of his sweaty clothes clinging to his skin. The heat was too much. He'd already removed his entire uniform but for his black undershirt and some black shorts he'd dug out from the very back of his closet. He didn't particularly want to open the windows, lest someone decided to climb in from the roof- this had actually happened before- but at this point, he didn't care. Consequences be damned. He unlatched the windows and opened them as wide as they would go. For a moment, he stood enjoying the cool breeze from outsi-Wait. Was that a girl sunbathing on the beach?

Who in the world was sunbathing? Hadn't all the students gone off on holiday? Wasn't that the whole reason he was sitting around in his room, overheating and bored out of his mind!?

He leaned forward out of the window and narrowed his eyes, trying to get a closer look. Oddly enough, the girl seemed to bear resemblance to both Ruri and Rin, the two girls in his mission; though her hair was a different colour and judging by the Slifer-red uniform lying on the sand, she seemed not only to be a part of this dimension, but also a student in Academia... Perhaps she was another part to the professor's plan? A girl for each dimension- It did seem to make sense. She was sorting through an exceedingly large stack of cards, in nothing but a bikini. How very odd. Just who was she?

Despite technically being one of Academia's students, Yuri didn't attend normal lessons and he'd never seen her before... His curiosity was peaked. If she was a Slifer red student, then her records ought to be in the office downstairs and she _should_ have a room somewhere in the building. Fortunately, Yuri just so happened to have the means to access the office and the student database system. He sauntered out of his stifling room with a grin and took the elevator to the bottom floor. Boredom assuaged, he decided that finding out more about the girl- Whoever she was- would make for a pleasant distraction. Not only that, it may even prove helpful to his mission later on, if she was indeed needed for The Professor's plans.

Once there, he picked the lock to the office with practiced ease and slid into a large leather chair. He logged into the office desktop and quickly scanned through various folders, stopping at the Slifer-red student profiles. With an efficient system, separating students by year and gender, it wasn't long before he found the information he was after. When he did, he sat back in the chair in smug satisfaction.

"So, your name is Serena... And what a coincidence, you're the same age as both Rin and Ruri. Very interesting." He made a note of her room number and floor, deciding that a little more snooping was in order. Leaving the office as he had found it, Yuri felt rather proud of himself. He resolved to do more digging when the coast was clear.

...

Late that night, when Yuri was certain all occupants of the building were asleep, he slipped out of his room; creeping down the long flight of spiral stairs to Serena's room on the third floor, cat quiet. It was somewhat of a trek, made difficult by the lack of lighting; but Yuri had done so much night-time spying over the past few months, the darkness and silence came to him second nature. Unhurriedly, he picked the lock and softly closed the door behind him. As he cracked her curtains open a fraction and moonlight streamed in, Yuri was mildly surprised by how plain the room was. It was very similar to his, albeit a little smaller and closer to the ground. There was very little in the way of decoration and Serena's bright purple hair was the most colourful thing in the room, as she snored away on her bed in the corner. Yuri couldn't glean much information about her from the room. He was about to give up on the reconnaissance mission, when he caught sight of a duel monsters deck beside her pillow. If her room hadn't yielded any answers, it was possible her deck might. Edging towards her bed slowly, Yuri could feel his face heating up and turning pink as he narrowly avoided stepping on a bikini top, bottoms and some underwear that had been casually strewn across the floor. He was beginning to regret this decision a little bit.

Briefly losing focus and his sure footing, the floorboards creaked loudly; Yuri almost stopped breathing as Serena turned over. He relaxed when he saw her eyes were still shut and she was still gently snoring. He pushed his purple bangs up and out of his eyes as he studied Serena more closely. She did bare an uncanny resemblance to Rin and Ruri, right down to the highlights in her hair. Cautiously, he plucked the deck from beside the sleeping girl's head and flipped through it.

' _Hmm. so she uses a Moonlight deck...'_ Yuri noted that the deck seemed to focus on beast warriors- specifically felines. Clearly a lot of thought had gone into it; she probably had an impressive One-turn-kill rate. After a few minutes, he took a closer look at 'Moonlight Cat Dancer'- which seemed to be the key fusion monster in her deck. Looking between the card and the expressionless face of it's owner, he concluded that the card suited her strangely well. A dark attribute monster that couldn't be destroyed in battle; if he were to dwell on it, the card probably said a lot about her personality. He wondered what she would do if the card were to go missing… A sly grin spread across Yuri's face. It might be quite entertaining to mess with her- see if the cat had any claws, so to speak. He replaced the deck by her bedside but added 'Moonlight Cat Dancer' to his back pocket. With that, he slipped back out the room, holding in a chuckle. With sadistic glee, he imagined the look of panic on her pretty face, when she realised her favourite card was missing...

-Back to the present, a few hours after Serena's pastries were stolen-

Serena was getting intensely frustrated. She had gone back up to her room after lunch to try to retrieve 'Moonlight Cat Dancer'- only to discover that it wasn't to be found. Once she'd torn her room apart and fumbled through all the pockets in all her jackets, she'd gone so far as to tip the box of extra cards (the ones she'd so painstakingly organised the day before) out onto the floor, in case Cat Dancer had gotten mixed up with them by mistake. In short, the card wasn't there and the extra cards were no longer in alphabetical order. She gritted her teeth angrily at the thought of having to sort through all 1545 cards once more.

In an effort to retrace her steps from yesterday morning (since she was certain that, that was the last time she had seen the card) Serena had visited the beach, the quayside, the kitchen and both large duel simulators in the main building. She was at her wits end. It was almost time to head up to the main building for dinner, but Serena had decided to do one final search of her room before calling it quits for the evening.

Rummaging around in her pockets, she pulled out a tangle of keys and flipped to her room key. Just before she stuck the key in the hole, she could've sworn that she'd heard the rustle of fabric from inside. She hadn't left the windows open; so it couldn't have been the curtains blowing about…

Uneasily, Serena remembered the prickly feeling on the back of her neck from earlier. Was there someone in her room? With no further hesitation, she unlocked the door quickly, slamming it shut behind her. She placed a hand against the door. That sneak was not getting out.

"I know there's someone in here. Face me, you coward." Whoever had snuck into her room was going to be extremely sorry.

"...Well, I suppose the game is up. Pity too. It was fun messing with you." The voice came from behind her and Serena spun on her heel to glare at the intruder. He was a boy, about her age, with purple hair undercut by pink highlights. The red jacket underneath his cloak seemed to imply he was also a Slifer, though Serena hadn't seen him around before. The most smug expression was painted on his face as he held up a familiar card.

"It was you! You took my Cat Dancer?! I've been looking for that card all afternoon." Serena's vision flashed red. Just who did this guy think he was?

"Oh, I know. It was quite amusing to watch. You should really keep a closer eye on your cards." He drawled, oozing arrogance. It was him. He'd been following her around all day. Serena's already limited patience snapped. She lashed out with a fist but it didn't connect with his face as she had hoped. He was quick as well as confident it would seem.

"That was rather violent. What a shame. This Catdancer looked so nice in your deck." Did this boy have a death wish?

"Give it back." She reached out to snatch it off of him, but unfortunately he was taller than her by several centimeters and dangled the card just out of her reach. He glanced down, seemingly amused by her anger.

"Make me." He said with far too much confidence for his own good. Well, if that was how he was going to play it, he was about to find out he had bitten off much more than he could chew. She smoothed the expression on her face. It was time to change tactics. She was going to wipe that shit-eating smirk right off his arrogant little face.

Yuri let out a small shocked gasp just before Serena grabbed his shirt collar, pulled his face down and pressed her lips to his. He flinched for a good few seconds, before relaxing into her touch. Serena deepened the kiss, touching her tongue to his, hoping to catch him unawares. Thankfully, her plan seemed to work as the boy put a tentative hand around her waist. In response, Serena entwined a hand up into his hair and tugged on his bottom lip. He wasn't a bad kisser. Not a bad kisser at all. Serena was actually rather impressed, but remained focused on her ulterior objective. Whilst he was distracted, her other hand went searching through his pockets for his deck, or at the very least, another card to blackmail him with. About a minute later, the intruder pulled back, as if coming to his senses and realising what he was doing.

"Wh-What was that?!" Serena was rather pleased to see that the boy was breathing heavily and had a deep blush staining his cheeks. She was equally pleased to be holding a deck of cards in her hand that she'd snagged from one of his back pockets.

"Well, that was a damn good kiss and this-" Serena pulled out a card from the deck and took a moment to read it's name. "-Starve-venom dragon looked rather nice in your deck. What a shame." It was her turn to smirk as she repeated his own words back at him. For a moment she could see hurt and anger flash across the boy's face but only for a moment. It was quickly masked and realising his game was up, he laughed, a little uneasily.

"I guess I deserve that. Truce? Your Catdancer for my deck." Serena could see that the boy was uncomfortable with her examining the Fusion-dragon card. She must have plucked his ace card from the deck by chance. How interesting. She tucked the dragon into her jacket pocket and shuffled through his other cards.

"Hmm... Maybe. I guess that depends…" Serena dragged out her sentence and continued to skim through his deck. She wasn't about to make this easy for him, not after the panic he'd put her in earlier. Yuri gulped.

"It… It depends?" He questioned, hesitantly. Serena whipped her gaze up.

"Who sent you spy on me? Was it the professor?" She noted his shocked response.

"No! No one sent me. You just... reminded me of two girls that I know."

"...And your first instinct was to mess with me?!"

"Err…"

" Right, of course it was." She rolled her eyes to that. "I take it that it was also you who stole my pastries at lunchtime?" The wide-eyed look on his face was telling. He really thought she was going to do something to his precious cards. Maybe she could have a little fun with him.

"I-I didn't mean t-"

"Save it. I'm not going to do anything to your deck, even if you do deserve it. I'm not that cruel. Give me back Moonlight Cat Dancer and you can have your cards back." The boy sheepishly held out the card and Serena handed back the deck, though he didn't look entirely satisfied. His eyebrows furrowed in frustration.

"...Can I have my dragon back too?" He asked quietly, though it pained his pride to do so. Serena contemplated her options. She couldn't just give the card back, that would be too easy.

"Mmm… What's your name?"

"...It's Yuri." Serena continued weighing up the pros and cons of what she was considering. Despite all the trouble he had caused her today, Yuri was quite good-looking and a rather mind blowing kisser. Clearly, he was also quite attracted to her, judging by how easily she'd managed to snag his deck of cards. She hadn't had this much excitement in ages. This situation could definitely work out in her favour.

"Well, Yuri, I'll be honest. I've had a really dull summer up till this point and if you have enough free time to bother messing with me, I'd say you're in the same boat." He looked a little confused by what she was saying, but nodded along. Maybe she'd hit the nail right on the mark.

"Don't suppose you'd fancy a duel tomorrow? If you gave me some decent competition, I might be persuaded to forgive you for taking my pastries. As for your Starve venom dragon? Well…" She took a step towards him and backed him up to the door.

"Why don't you make me give it back?" To this she gave him a cheeky wink and pulled him down for another kiss. Yuri quickly shook off his surprise and reciprocated, going on a rather unnecessary "search for his card" despite knowing exactly where Serena had put it.

In that moment, the same thought ran through both of their minds:

'This summer might turn out to be more exciting than I expected...'

 **AN: Wow, I did not expect this to be so long. I was just trying to get some of the YGO arc-v feels out of my system… Well, if anyone else is struggling to function due to their love for YGO arc-v, please message me and let me know I'm not alone -Saz.**


	2. Yuto&Ruri - Of Teenage Kicks

**AN: So... kinda got disillusioned with the anime. It got p bad. However, the manga has given my inner fangirl new life. In honour of the good times I had watching Arc-V, I'm going to finish and post the few chapters of what I wrote and planned way back when :)**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own YGO Arc-V. Otherwise the anime wouldn't have gone so wrong D:**

2- Of Teenage Kicks- Yuto Ruri

XYZ Dimension, Heartland.

So far, the overriding emotions of the morning had consisted of confusion, panic and disappointment. Today was not off to a good start.

An observant character might note how the kitchen windows were all opened wide. The same character might grimace at the unmistakable scent of burnt food. A glance upwards would provide yet more information; a mixing bowl hastily taped over the fire alarm. The still-steaming toaster on the counter was another clue. But the final piece to the puzzle was the young man, sat in silence, sullenly staring down at his replacement breakfast, watching the cereal go soggy.

Therefore, it should come as no surprise that Shun Kurosaki was troubled.

This morning his sister had left for school without him. She hadn't done that since the time he'd punched a classmate of hers in the face. Not that he'd regretted doing so. Nobody made a move on his little sister (at least not without his explicit approval.)

Whilst he'd been racking his brain over why Ruri might be avoiding him, he'd let his toast go from lightly-browned to significantly-charred.

Multitasking had never been his strong suit, especially not when distracted by concern over his baby sister.

He eyed the bin with an expression of mild distaste, the scent of his earlier blunder, unmistakeable. He resigned himself to the cereal in front of him, that was growing soggier by the second.

Delicious.

His thoughts circled back to Ruri. Since he didn't recall punching anyone to protect her virtues, he assumed she wasn't acting strange out of anger.

Now that he thought about it, Ruri had been acting odd last week as well. She'd been asking lots of questions about his classmates and friends: Who he got on well with, who he wasn't fond of, which girls he liked etc.

He hadn't thought much of it at the time, but maybe she'd heard some kind of incriminating gossip through the rumour mill. She did hate being kept out of the loop.

But no.

No.

Ruri was more than smart enough to recognise fact from fiction.

Shun huffed in frustration, from both his line of thought and the mush that his cereal had become, which he absolutely refused to continue eating. He rose, poured the contents down the sink and unceremoniously deposited his bowl into the dishwasher.

On his way out the kitchen, he pulled a denim jacket from the coat stand. On autopilot, he slung his backpack over a shoulder, palmed his keys, unlocked the front door and left for school. All the while with his brain working overtime.

Either something was terribly wrong with Ruri or she was up to something. Neither of those options sounded particularly promising for Shun's near future.

On the bright side, at least it was Friday. The weekend was well on it's way and he'd have the house to himself. His parents and a few of their friends had decided to go on a weekend spa retreat, leaving Shun free as a bird.

Though still perplexed by his sister's actions, Shun decided that there were other things to think about. Ruri was old enough to look after herself. If she needed his help, she would ask!

…..

Sometime on the twenty minute walk from home to school, Shun had changed his mind. If he wasn't going to be around for much of the weekend, would Ruri think he was avoiding her out of petty spite? Would that anger her further? (If indeed, she was angry in the first place…)

Thoughts of his sister kept swirling round in his head and attempts to forget the whole thing were in vain. It seemed that his protective instincts as the elder sibling, were simply too strong to be ignored.

She wouldn't want him to pry but as he walked through Heartland High School's gates, he resolved to get the bottom of the matter. What if something was actually wrong? What if she needed his help, but was too stubborn to realise it?

Fortunately for Shun, as if Fate herself had deemed his quest worthy, the one person who may have had some answers, walked right by.

"Yo, Yuto! Wait up a sec!" Shun called after him and jogged over.

Yuto had known Ruri for years and was usually the first to pick up on her schemes. If anyone knew what was bothering her, it was him. He quickly caught up to the younger teen, who had stopped abruptly in his tracks. Shun frowned, as he could have sworn he saw a distinct look of horror flash across Yuto's face.

"Oh… Err. Hey Shun. What's up? Did you need something?" Shun noted how Yuto was shifting from one foot to the other- like he had some other place to be. He ignored it. This would be quick.

"Yeah, actually-" He started. "-It's about Ruri. She's been acting a bit-"

"-Ooh! S-Sorry Shun. I just remembered; I need to go grab a- uh- thing from my locker. It's um… Homework? Yeah, homework." Enthusiastic nods punctuated his words. "I left it in there this morning, silly me! So I'm just going to um… Go..." He said, pointing over his shoulder. "Later!"

"B-but-" Before Shun could finish his sentence, Yuto had dashed off in the opposite direction, purple spikes bouncing. The elder boy stood in place for a few moments; stunned and trying to process what had just happened.

Was it something he'd said?

'What in the world is wrong with everyone?'

An unexpected elbow to the ribs, broke him out of his confusion.

"Yo, Kurosaki! You doing alright there?" Kaito waved a hand in front of his face, a slim brow arched in vague concern. "Still up for duel night at my place?"

"Hey, Kaito." A thankful smile replaced Shun's befuddled expression. "Yeah. Wouldn't miss it."

"Cool." Kaito flashed him a grin and Shun was eternally grateful that his best friend had a level head- that he hadn't caught whatever craziness was afflicting the others.

The only sane friend in Shun's life looked over his shoulder in the direction Yuto had run off, with mild amusement.

"By the way, was that Yuto? Where's he off to so quickly?" Shun could only reply with honesty.

"...I have absolutely no idea."

...

-Later that evening-

The obnoxiously bright glare and loud ring tone of his phone startled Yuto awake. Scowling at his glow-in-the-dark alarm clock, he did a double take: Who in Heartland was calling him up at 11:30pm?

Quickly snatching up the phone from his bedside table, before the ringing stopped, he squinted blearily at the screen. Raising an eyebrow at the familiar caller ID, he suppressed a groan and picked up.

"Ruri? Is that you?" He croaked- his voice hadn't quite woken up yet.

"Yuto! Thank god you're awake." He decided not to correct her about being awake- She sounded a bit panicked. Not a good sign. Ruri took a deep breath before launching into a hurried and breathless explanation.

"I'm sorry- I know it's late, but I didn't know what else to do! Shun went to Kaito's house- like we had planned- and I'd finished decorating and was trying to make his cake for tomorrow-"

"Right." Yuto added, just so she knew he was still following.

"-Only I fell asleep while it was cooking and there was so much smoke."

"Shit. Are you okay?"

"- Yeah I'm fine. For some reason, the fire alarm was already covered up? I don't know how that happened. But now, I don't have enough ingredients for another cake and the kitchen is a mess and my parents aren't here…" Ruri paused briefly and Yuto could hear sniffing on her end of the line. "I'm such an idiot." Yuto briefly floundered for a response, before his sleep-ridded brain kicked into action.

"Ruri, it's alright. You're not an idiot. C'mon, don't even worry about it-"

He sat up and rubbed his eyes. She was still sniffing and her breathing was a little erratic. It seemed like she was on the brink of tears. Crap.

Sleep would have to wait. He transferred his phone to his shoulder, shoving the duvet covers off and swinging his legs over the side of his bed.

"-Hey, don't panic, look, we can make a second cake. I'll be right over. I think there's some flour and sugar around here somewhere. Anything else you need? I can grab it from the 24-hour store on the way."

Careful not to trip, Yuto avoided a precariously tall stack of fantasy books and flicked the light switch; illuminating his room. He flinched at the brightness but his eyes adjusted quickly. Ignoring the blurriness of his vision sans glasses or contact lenses, he started rummaging around for some clothes at the back of his wardrobe. He made a mental note to reorganise said wardrobe at some point in the next week.

"R-Really?! Are you sure?" She stuttered, as Yuto inspected a pair of jeans.

"Yeah." He nodded both in approval of the jeans and in response to Ruri, feeling a bit of a fool when he remembered she couldn't actually see him. He tossed the jeans onto his bed along with an acceptable T-shirt, belt and pair of socks. "My parents won't mind and besides, I made a promise to help, didn't I?"

"Yuto... Yo-You're the bestest friend, ever!" He chuckled at that. A few metallic clangs sounded in the background as Ruri pottered around in the kitchen on her end.

"Okay. I've still got enough eggs left..." There was a brief silence on her end. Yuto could almost picture the look of concentration and the delicate finger tapping against her bottom lip.

"I'll definitely need some more sugar… and probably butter..."

After a moment's hesitation, she returned her focus to the conversation. "I'll clear up this mess as best I can and work out what I need. Can you give me five minutes?" She asked, sounding a little more confident. Yuto straightened up, shifting the phone back to his hand.

"Sure, text me if there's anything else."

"Thanks Yuto. I-" She paused briefly, as if second guessing herself. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

As the line went dead, Yuto quirked a small smile at the contact name, still flashing up on his phone. Only Ruri could work herself into such a panic- only she could care so much. He tapped the power button, locking the device, and nestled it into the pocket of his jeans on the bed. Letting out a yawn, Yuto blinked sleep out of his eyes.

Ruri needed his help and he wasn't about to let her down. Giving the clothes he had laid out another once over, he got dressed.

…..

Locking the door in the dark, whilst carrying two large bags of flour and sugar proved difficult. After several attempts of fumbling at the lock, Yuto was successful. Pausing briefly to shove the house key in his back pocket, he rearranged the bags in his left arm to get a better hold on them.

As he looked down at himself, he sighed; mildly exasperated that he already had flour stains on his jeans. He quickly ran down a mental checklist in his head:

Ingredients for the cake. Check. His mum had done some baking recently for the trip to the spa with the kurosaki parents, so the flour and sugar had been relatively near the front of the cupboard.

Phone: Check. It was in his other back pocket- Ruri had texted him a little while ago with an exceptionally short list, consisting of butter, flour and sugar. Well, at least that was two out of three down. He'd texted back what he had but hadn't gotten a reply in response.

As an afterthought, he'd shoved his deck in his jacket pocket. He and Ruri had a running tally of DM wins and he was falling behind with forty-five to her forty-seven. They hadn't played for a while but Yuto reckoned he had improved enough to close the gap, even whilst sleep deprived.

All things considered, he was doing pretty well for someone who had just woken up ten minutes ago. He even seemed to be in a reasonable state of dress.

Though his hair was a little haphazard.

He blew back one of the wilted spikes that had slid into his face. His hair always seemed to do it's own thing but just for now, it was fine. Regardless of how presentable he looked, he was only going to see Ruri. And she'd seen him in worse states. _Much worse states._

He shuddered at what few memories he had of his seventeenth birthday, most of which involved embarrassment, shame and his head in a toilet.

Forcing his brain to focus, he pictured the route he was going to take. The Kurosaki house was a few streets away and luckily, the twenty-four hour corner shop happened to be enroute. Holding back yet another yawn, he ignored the part of his brain telling him to go back inside; to dive under his duvet and forget the whole affair. Alas, the decision was out of his hands. A promise had been made and Yuto felt distinctly unsettled by the idea of going back on it. With that in mind, he ambled down the garden path, walking off into the warm, summer night.

...

-About a week ago-

"Alright. What's going on?"

"Hmm? Nothing's going on." Ruri schooled her face into an expression of innocence. She'd been on her way to meet Sayaka for lunch when Yuto had cut in her way. He had a rather determined expression on his face which didn't usually bode well for her. She tried sidestepping him, but he stepped in her way once more.

"Don't play dumb. I'm not an idiot. You've been avoiding me and Shun all week and every time Sayaka sees Shun, she practically falls over, trying to find an excuse to leave. You're up to something." He narrowed his eyes at her in suspicion. In turn, Ruri cooly gazed right back. Appraising whether Yuto would be more of a help or a hindrance to her careful plannings, she twirled a strand of violet hair around her index finger.

"Mmm… I'm sorry Yuto, but I'm not sure I should tell you." She eventually answered. He gave her a pointed look.

"Explain."

"Well. You see, the thing is-" Ruri wasn't quite sure how to put this politely. "-no offence, but you just can't keep a secret-"

"What?!" His eyebrows shot up his forehead. "I'm completely trustworthy!"

"-from Shun." Ruri finished.

"Oh." Yuto opened his mouth. Closed it. Then opened it again to weakly protest: "-Th -That's not true."

"Oh?" Ruri's could feel her right eyebrow sliding up in disagreement. "What about that time you let slip that, I was the one who scratched his bike? Hmm?"

"...That was one time." Yuto was suddenly very interested in the ground at his feet.

"Or that other time when I accidentally shrunk his favourite jumper and you just happened to mention it? Or that time I lost one of his cards and you ratted me out? What about when-"

"Alright, alright!" He slapped a hand over her mouth, cutting her off. "I know! I'm terrible at keeping secrets!"

"Mm hmm." Ruri hummed and nodded in satisfaction. Yuto retracted his hand and folded his arms defensively, avoiding eye contact.

"...But I'm pretty sure I tell you just as many of his secrets." She heard him mutter under his breath. Ruri giggled.

She would've quite happily continued teasing him- he was cute when he got flustered- but this could work out in her favour. She hadn't had time to invite any of the spades yet- none of them were really in her friend group- but Yuto was a spade. She was pretty sure he had friends in heart branch too. As long as he didn't spill the beans, Yuto could be a valuable asset to the cause. She reached out, playfully tapping her (still pouting) best friend on his nose.

"Promise I can trust you?" His face wrinkled at the contact but his reply was serious.

"Always."

She believed him. All joking aside, Yuto had never let her down before- not with something important. His integrity was one of things she lov- liked most about him. Platonically. As friends. Ahem. Now was not the time to open up that can of beans.

Weighing her options, she decided it would be best just to tell him, lest he make Shun more suspicious than he already was. She smirked at the concern she could read so clearly in his face.

"Well, okay!" Leaning in closer, she lowered her voice. "Basically, I'm planning a surprise party for Shun's 18th next week. A big one. Aaand since you brought it up-" Ruri turned up the charm, attempting her best puppy eyes.

"-I'd really appreciate some help with delivering invites to the Spades, Hearts and you know- all the other prep. Organising everything while keeping it secret from Shun has been super difficult! Although I'm fairly certain he's forgotten all about it..." She laughed a little sheepishly.

"Well, are you in?"

Yuto didn't know how she'd gotten her parents on board with a house party. Wasn't sure how Shun had managed to forget his own birthday. Didn't know why his heart had started beating so quickly when Ruri had leaned in closer a few seconds ago.

In any case, he knew he had no choice in the matter. He didn't have the strength to say no to that smile.

...

-Back to the present-

"Thanks, have a nice evening." The shop assistant mumbled, before turning back to her magazine.

"Um, you too." Ruri replied, a little distracted by her phone. Sayaka had been hanging out with Allen and updating her about 'duel night' at Kaito's all evening (to make sure nothing ruined the plan).

So far, so good.

She pushed her phone as far down as it would go into her back pocket and exited the shop through the automatic doors.

'What timing.' She thought, as she caught sight of Yuto's familiar spikes a little ways down the street. He was difficult to miss with hair like that. She grinned and felt her stomach flutter- a reaction that had started to become a regular occurrence. Ignoring it, she waved at him and started to walk over.

Ruri was ten metres from him before realising that he still hadn't seen her. He seemed very focused on the pavement. With a cheeky little smirk, she walked along behind him and tapped his shoulder. Yuto's squeak of surprise made her evening.

"Apologies Sir, but it seems you might be visually impaired, need a hand?"

"Ruri?!"

"Hi Yuto." She smiled. "You were squinting so hard, I almost didn't recognise you. Forget to put in your lenses?" He looked a little sheepish.

"Pretty much… Oh-" He pointed down at the plastic bag on her arm. "-did you already buy everything you needed?"

"Yeah, I felt bad about making you buy everything and I forgot a few things on the list. So I thought I'd come grab it myself. And lucky me, I found you on the way- Oh is that the flour and sugar?" She took one of the bags from under his arm and dropped it into her plastic bag.

"Thanks, my arm was starting to cramp." He said in relief, rolling his shoulder and shaking out his arm. The last five minutes of the walk had been extremely uncomfortable and he'd been convinced he was going to drop one of the bags.

"You're more than welcome, but I definitely should be thanking you instead, for coming to my rescue." She giggled.

"How are you doing? You sounded a bit on edge earlier."

"Yeah… Sorry if I freaked you out. I was having a small meltdown."

"Mmm, understatement." He teased.

Ruri looped an arm through his and Yuto was glad for the semi-darkness so she didn't catch his cheeks flushing pink. Her top was fairly low cut and from this angle-

He gulped, averting his gaze and thoughts. Scents of flour, vanilla and smokiness wafted from her lengthy hair. Baking. That was what they were doing. Totally innocent.

"Come on then, this cake isn't going to bake itself."

Ruri couldn't possibly have known what he was thinking, but the statement was a welcome affirmation, nonetheless. Arm in arm, the two walked towards the Kurosaki residence.

…..

"Wow, you weren't kidding. This place is a mess!" Yuto observed, rather tactlessly.

"I know..." Ruri looked a little pained, before turning pale. "...My parents are going to kill me."

"Ah wait- No- It'll be fine." Yuto said, backtracking. "We can clean up. It'll be fine." He repeated himself, a little more firmly

"Yeah, I've already opened all the windows so the burnt smell is almost gone. You're right!" In Yuto's opinion, the smell of burnt cake was still lingering quite strongly, but he wasn't about to burst her bubble.

"If you get everything together, I'll scrub the stuff in the sink." She pulled a hairband from her wrist and twisted her waist-length hair up, into a messy bun. Her top rose up to reveal a pale midriff- and that was enough of that line of thought.

Yuto spotted an open recipe book, on one of the few kitchen counters left unscathed by Ruri's administrations. Scanning it's pages, he started pulling ingredients from cupboards accordingly; quite familiar with where everything was stored.

"So, it's a chocolate cake?" Yuto asked, as he pulled out three bars of dark chocolate and set them down next to the butter.

"Yup! Chocolate fudge! Three layers!"

"Well, it doesn't look too difficult. Where do you want me to get started?" Ruri paused, half way through rolling up a sleeve, to look at him in confusion. He shifted uncomfortably. "What?"

"You can bake?"

"Um… Yes?" Yuto shrugged, trying not to feel embarrassed. "Is that weird?"

"No, not at all!" Ruri chuckled. "I don't know why I'm surprised; so many hidden talents." She gave him a wry smile and turned to the sink. "You can start prepping everything while I sort this mess out."

"Got it."

…..

-About thirty minutes later-

Ruri popped the tins into the oven and threw her oven gloves on the side.

"One-thirty already?" She said, checking the clock. "Well, I guess we've got twenty minutes to kill." Her lips pulled back into a yawn and Yuto couldn't help but smile.

"Just try not to fall asleep again."

"Oh, shush you. I'll go see if I can find your sleeping bag upstairs."

"Err, Ruri wait a second."

"Yes, Yu-" Ruri's words choked in her throat as she turned straight into Yuto. He gave her a sleepy smile, turned up at one side, accompanied by a single dimple. Beneath his eyes were the beginnings of deep dark circles, but his gaze was was focused solely on her. Wordlessly, he reached out his hand and rubbed, almost caressed, her cheek. It couldn't have been more than a few seconds, but to Ruri it felt like time had stopped.

"You had some flour on your cheek." He chuckled, stifling a yawn.

"Oh."

"Ruri, are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine! Completely fine! Why wouldn't I be??" She laughed, nervously. "I'm just- I'm going to- Sleeping bag."

…..

-20 minutes later-

"Hey, isn't that the oven timer going off?" Yuto asked, halfway through tugging a fresh case onto his pillow. They'd both changed into pyjamas and had set up a mountain of cushions and pillows on the sofa. They were ready to pass out as soon as the cakes were done cooking.

"Oh!" Ruri's eyes widened comically and she dashed into the kitchen. Yuto abandoned the pillow, following behind, quietly amused by her panic.

"Aaah. Gloves gloves gloves…" She did a quick 360 scan before plucking a pair of oven gloves off the counter, exactly where she'd left them earlier.

"Could you grab the cooling rack from the top of the fridge and put it over there?" She jerked her head in the general direction and started fiddling with the oven settings.

Doing as she asked, Yuto quickly cleared the counter and set the wire rack down. Ruri threw open the oven door and pulled the three steaming tins out in succession. She set them down and quickly prodded each with a finger. Springy success.

"Thank fuck." Ruri breathed a sigh of relief. "We can leave the cakes to cool and finish icing in the morning. Or I mean, later in the morning."

"Good idea." Yuto nodded, rubbing at his eyes. For what must have been the eighth time in the last half hour, he tried to hide a yawn.

"C'mon sleepy head. Bedtime."

…..

-About an hour later-

Yuto had been dreaming. It had been a nice dream. He and Ruri had been having afternoon tea and had been served by a talking cake. Strange yes, but strange could be nice too. What could only be described as a 'dream date' had been really good fun.

Anyways, the point was, he hadn't expected to have been woken up by the real deal tugging at his sleeve. Or perhaps this was still part of the dream?

"Ruri?"

"Mmmm... 's too quiet upstairs… Can I share the sofa?" She yawned wide.

"Yeah, 's kay." He mumbled back, shuffling over. Ruri plopped down with her quilt on the opposite end and the pair slipped back to sleep.

…..

-At a decent time, later that morning-

'Oh dear.' Was the first thought that came to Yuto as he awoke the next morning.

At some point in the night, Ruri had managed to sprawl herself across Yuto. How that had come about was beyond him, but as a result, she was now lying directly on top of him, wearing a very thin, flimsy pyjama top. The strap had slid off one of her shoulders and whenever Ruri shifted in her sleep, Yuto could distinctly feel her chest pressed up against him through the fabric of the sleeping bag. He was currently sporting a nice, cherry red tinge.

'Stay calm. Don't think about… Them.'

It was increasingly difficult to deny his attraction to his best friend, while she was right there and wearing so little. Especially while he trying very hard to keep his thoughts out of the gutter and to prevent making the situation even more awkward. Ahem.

'What would Ruri do to you if she knew what you were thinking?! What Shun would do to you?!'

He paled at that last thought. Gently easing himself out of the sleeping bag, he left Ruri to sleep.

Padding into the kitchen, he gave the dried stains on the countertops and the sink a look of distaste. Someone ought to clear this up. Since Yuto wasn't going back to sleep anytime soon, he supposed that someone would be him, with the help of the dishwasher.

But maybe it would be better to finish cooking before cleaning up. Grabbing an apple from the fridge for breakfast, he munched and scanned the recipe book on how to make the chocolate fudge icing.

Ruri could thank him for this later.

...

-That evening-

"Well-" Ruri sat herself down beside Yuto on the sofa and propped her legs up on the table. "-I'd say that was rather successful, wouldn't you?" She looked immensely pleased with herself.

"Mmm…" Yuto hummed in agreement. "Shun seemed to enjoy himself." Ruri laughed.

"Maybe a little too much if you know what I mean…"

The two watched as Shun, who was leaning heavily on Kaito, proclaimed his love of falcons to the stragglers of the party. The few who hadn't left yet were crowded around him, cheering in confused agreement.

Three rounds of vodka roulette, a round of beer pong, two more beers, a raspberry cider and four vodka-lemonades had really done a number on him. Yuto's attention turned back to Ruri as she curled up into his side, leaning her head against his shoulder.

"Anyways-" Had her breath hitched, or was Yuto imagining that? "-I just wanted to say that I couldn't have done it without you." Her fingers slowly curled around his arm. Yuto could smell the sweet pear cider on her lips. Even in a slightly drunken state from the earlier games of vodka roulette and beer pong, Yuto forced himself to calm down. They were both a little drunk, he reminded himself. He was probably imagining the signals.

"I- I really didn't do that much."

"Didn't do that much? How many people do you think would get up in the middle of the night to help me bake a cake." Ruri sat up and gave him a funny look. "I didn't call anyone else you know. You're always there for me and-"

She bit down on her bottom lip, which Yuto absolutely could not stop staring at. It was so plump and shiny.

"-You mean a lot to me…"

Yuto stopped breathing as Ruri inched closer, her words barely a whisper.

"So, thank you." She leaned across and-

And-

And she started to pull back.

But that was the last straw.

To hell with self-control and to hell with the consequences. Yuto didn't have an ounce of regret as he leaned in to close the distance between them. Ruri's eyes widened in shock as their lips met.

For a brief few seconds, the rest of the room seemed to fall away. It was a chaste kiss, but charged with something that Yuto couldn't express. It just felt right.

After a moment, Yuto pulled back, apologies and excuses on the tip of his tongue. But then Ruri kissed him back, and his tongue was otherwise engaged. His hands dropped to her hip. He pulled her closer, drawing small circles on the exposed skin above her jeans. Their tongues tangled and twisted. Yuto could taste pear cider as he pulled Ruri's bottom lip between his teeth. She threw a leg over his thighs, straddling him, her hands raking through his hair all the while.

As one kiss became two, then three, then four, they ceased to pay any attention to events around them. The two were so busy, in fact, that they didn't notice the elder, extremely drunk, Kurosaki flop down on the sofa opposite them, eyes wide and gasping comically.

 **AN: Well there you have it. Expect another chapter in a week, perhaps. :)**


End file.
